The Cloak and Dagger (Preview)

2 -

"Obviously," Jamie said as he swung the door shut and locked it. "Your momma isn't going to hurt you, sweetie."

"Of course not," Mom said, clicking her tongue. She dropped her grocery bags on the counter and dug around in them, then headed over to the couch with a styrofoam container in her hands. "Here. I brought you this."

I took the container, popped the top and groaned. "Pancakes!"

Pancakes were my comfort food. Any day, any situation, no matter what had happened, pancakes never ceased to make me feel better.

Jamie plopped himself on the couch, picked up a flaky pancake and took a bite. "I love pancakes. So, Momma Eloise, you wanna watch Titanic with us?"

"That disastrous movie?" Mom scoffed. "I don't think so." She tossed an arm around my shoulders and pulled me to her side, giving me a comforting squeeze. "But I'll stick around for my daughter."

At the very least, I had pancakes, my gay best friend and my mother, and Leonardo DiCaprio for comfort until I stopped shrieking and jumping at the slightest movement.

I dropped the stack of non-fiction books onto the cart and pushed the cart out of the back room, into the outer portion of the library. I hated restocking books, but it was easier than filing and it was still a job I got paid for.

I had taken as much time off after the incident in the alleyway as I could without having it affect my grades in classes or my job, and now I was back. It wasn't as if disliked working at the university library - I loved books - but it was monotonous.

It was Tuesday night, it was nearing ten, and I wanted to go home. I had a paper due for my genetics class and it was looming in the back of my mind, due this Friday. And I hadn't even started it yet. I wasn't normally prone to this much procrastination, but I think I had a perfect reason as to why.

I pushed the cart into the World Religion section and started re-shelfing the books on Buddhism. The library was too quiet for my liking. Ever since that night, quiet was starting to make me much too uncomfortable. My shifted ended at ten, an hour and thirty-three minutes away, and that couldn't come fast enough.

My mind drifted to my impending essay as I re-stocked the books, focusing on the sound of the heavy texts thumping against the shelves for comfort.

"Excuse me - Miss Eberly?"

I jumped about a foot in the air with a loud shriek and spun on my heel, facing the person that had appeared quite literally out of nowhere.

My jaw dropped.

Standing in front of me was a very tall man with thick chestnut hair, sparkling white teeth, and looks that would make even Adonis extremely jealous. He had to have been filthy rich, too, considering the pristine Armani suit he was wearing.

"C-Can I help you?" I stammered, backing up into the bookshelf.

The man's smile widened, sending a sliver of fear down my spine. I may have not been some Einstein with some genius IQ, but I knew enough to tell that there was something very wrong with this man.

There was this...air that he had, something inhuman about him that gave him an almost ethereal appearance. It was breathtaking and frightening at the same time, and I found that I couldn't look away from him.

The man's smiled widened. "Yes, actually. I'm Stan Mitcham, attorney of law."

"Uhm..." I clutched at the bookshelves behind me as my knees started to knock. "O-Okay..."

"I heard that you were assualted the other night, near here," Stan Mitcham said, almost like he were readying himself for a long conversation.

"Er..."